East Doncaster Secondary College was established in 1974 and is situated in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Our College is a large, single campus, co-educational school with a focus on high academic achievement, excellence in teaching and learning, student connectedness and wellbeing and a broad, inclusive co-curricular program. From an organisation perspective, our student body is divided into two sub-schools. Middle School encompassing students in Year 7-9, while Senior School includes students in Year 10-12.
As a College, we strive to develop passionate lifelong learners who are creative critical thinkers with the confidence and resilience to thrive in the global community. We want students to experience a sense of achievement and growth in their academic, personal, social and emotional development. In support of this aim, we ensure that our College values of curiosity, excellence, fairness, respect, resilience, teamwork, care and compassion underpin all that we do and guide the expected behaviours for all in our school community.
Our focus as a professional learning community is captured by our maxim – “Creating a Culture of Curiosity”.
Our College has a culture of high expectations and a strong tradition of academic excellence. We have high expectations that our students will embrace all learning opportunities and will also commit to being supportive of the learning of others. We want students to experience a sense of achievement and growth in their academic, social and emotional development.
We are proudly multicultural across over 40 nationalities, with a very successful international student program. Over 40% of our students undertake English as an Additional Language (EAL) study. With over 74% of our students having language backgrounds other than English, we prioritise literacy improvement in all subject areas and across all year levels through the embedding of our whole school Literacy Framework.
Our student achievement data is excellent across a range of data sets and year levels. Our VCE results have been consistently excellent, and our NAPLAN data indicates our students are strong performers in both Literacy and Numeracy.
Through a highly successful VCE program, more than 95% of our Year 12 students consistently progress to tertiary studies.
Within the VCE sector of our Senior School, we offer multiple pathways in addition to a standard VCE program. We offer VCE Vocational Major for both Year 11 and 12 students and provide access to a wide range of VET studies to maximise the opportunities and avenues to success for all students.
We strive to have our students taking greater responsibility for their learning and greater agency in the way that they learn. We consistently seek to build leadership capacity in our students via specific development programs and mentoring and this has resulted in a greater involvement in the SLED team, the Senior and Middle School leadership teams, Captaincy of Home Groups, Houses, International Students, Sporting Teams, Debating, Music, Drama, Wellbeing, Peer Support, STEM and Technical Support.
In responding to our students’ needs, we have developed a Positive Education program “Positive Futures”, to improve the resilience, mindsets, self-regulation and connection of our students and all stakeholders in our educational community. We continue to be proud that our College embraces both social and cultural diversity and inclusion by being accepted as ‘lead school’ in the state-wide ‘Respectful Relationships’ program.
Our broad and extensive co-curricular program involving sport, debating, academic competitions, instrumental music, performing and creative arts, camps and outdoor education events cater for the diversity of student interest and provide a vast array of learning opportunities and connection for our student body in all year levels.
We continue to provide opportunities for our students to develop an understanding of and connection with their community beyond the College gates. Overseas experiences such are language-based tours, NASA Space Camp and World Challenge projects broaden our students’ perspectives of the world and the role they play within it. The cross-cultural understanding and development of global knowledge joined via these experiences combined with local community engagement opportunities, further prepare our students for the world beyond school